Painting at CIA
At The Cleveland Institute of Art, our Department of Painting has a long and illustrious history of producing successful artists. As a Painting major, you will acquire a broad knowledge of the visual arts and an in-depth knowledge of painting as a studio practice.
Prepare for Life as a Professional Artist
At the core of our coursework is an understanding of what it takes to be a professional artist. With this goal in mind, we provide our students with a solid foundation in technical and problem solving skills, art criticism and theory, and contemporary practices in the visual arts.
As a Painting student, you will experience a wide range of approaches from abstract and figural painting to alternative media and installation. Your work will be guided by our faculty of professional artists through individual and group studio critiques, workshops, seminars, and special topics courses. In addition, a series of special events such as exhibitions, artist visits, and scholar programs will present you with the issues, challenges, and practices you can expect to face during your professional life.
You also will be tutored in creating a professional portfolio, developing grant-writing skills, and proper etiquette for successfully approaching dealers, curators, and collectors. You will learn how to set up your own professional studio in our Professional Practices program. Your CIA experience culminates with a BFA exhibition that entails presenting a body of self-initiated work, an oral defense, and a written artist statement.
Work in an Exciting, Collaborative Atmosphere
As part of the Visual Arts and Technologies (VAT) Environment, you will share in an integrated curriculum studying other disciplines within the environment including Drawing, Printmaking, Fiber + Material Studies, and Sculpture. You also may take classes from and work individually with our VAT Environment Artist-in-Residence, a leading artist in his or her field. Each spring, you have the opportunity to visit professional galleries and exhibitions, such as the Whitney Biennial and The Armory Show, in New York City.
Learn More
Find out more about our painting facilities, faculty, courses, and available scholarships. Check out potential career paths in painting or works created by our students.
Click on an image to see a larger view.
Antonia Mazuranic |
Brian Sabalausky |
Casey Lawlor |
Matthew Palmer |
Samantha Hanson |
Shoko Yamamura |
Painting Facilities
Painting students have large individual studio spaces, a well-equipped workshop, and excellent critique space—all within the sky-lit, factory loft space of the Joseph McCullough Center for the Visual Arts.Careers in Painting
Many of our graduates continue on to graduate school or have fulfilling careers in the visual arts.
With a BFA degree in painting, possible career options include:
- Art administrator
- Art critic
- Art educator/teacher
- Creative director
- Creative talent for television shows
- Designer
- Gallery or museum curator
- Illustrator
- Professional artist
- Set designer
Download the Painting program of study
Access Course Schedules and Description
Painting Courses
- Aesthetics, Style, and Content
- Art in the Global Context
- Artist as Producer
- BFA Statement and Exhibition
- Collage, Assemblage, and Installation
- Criticism and Studio Practice
- Freshman Environmental Elective: Visual Art and Technologies
- Hybrid Approaches to Drawing and Painting: Digital Media
- Image and Form: Visual Literacy
- Image and Form II: Reproducibility
- Intro to Painting: Painting History (1828-2010)
- Major Day: BFA Statement and Exhibition
- On Painters and Painting: Artist, Author, Aura
- Painted Bodies: The Contemporary Figure
- Painting: Color, Scale, Mark, and Form
- Painting: Framing the Subject and the Construction of Meaning
- Painting: Image and Narrative: Concept, Abstraction, Mimesis
- Painting Lab: Explorations in Representation and Figuration
- Painting Major Day: Mechanics of Meaning: Subject, Form, and Content
- Painting Major Day: Medium Is the Message
- Painting Major Day: Self, World, and History
- Painting for Majors: Constructing Narratives
- Painting and the Photograph: From Delacroix to Gerhard Richter
- Painting as System, Method, Organism, and Concept
- Popular Culture, Material Culture, and the Arts: A Studio Course—Collaboration, Image, Object, Installation, Performance
- Subject, Content, and Form
- The Tactile and the Digital: Painting in the New Century
- Water+: An Exploration of Water-Based Media in Contemporary Painting Practices
- Working Collaboratively: Art and the Group Dynamic
Scholarships
The Cleveland Institute of Art offers an extensive merit recognition program, using endowed scholarships and other private monies, to support our students. We offer scholarships through our academic departments, the Office of Admissions, and the Office of Financial Aid. Learn more about scholarships at CIA.
Download Institute Wide (Open) Awards
Download Award Recipient Information Sheet
Painting Scholarships
Carl Gaertner '24 Memorial Prize
Awarded for outstanding achievement to a current 2nd or 3rd year student majoring in Painting. Total Amount of Award in 2009: $800, shared by 1 winner(s) - Cash Prize. Award is based on Merit. Merit is criteria in all awards. Need-based awards are based on FAFSA form and the federal methodology.
Dorothe L. Niebes '37 Memorial Painting Award
Awarded for outstanding achievement to a current 2nd or 3rd year student majoring in Painting. Total Amount of Award in 2009: $120, shared by 1 winner(s). Award is based on Need. Merit is criteria in all awards. Need-based awards are based on FAFSA form and the federal methodology.
Hazel Haynes Schmitkons '61 Scholarship for Excellence in Painting
Awarded for exceptional talent to a current 3rd year student majoring in Painting. Total Amount of Award in 2009: $300, shared by 1 winner(s). Award is based on Need. Merit is criteria in all awards. Need-based awards are based on FAFSA form and the federal methodology.
John Paul Wrobbel '53 Painting Prize
Awarded for outstanding achievement to a current student majoring in Painting. Total Amount of Award in 2009: $2,000, shared by 1 winner(s) - Cash Prize. Award is based on Merit. Merit is criteria in all awards. Need-based awards are based on FAFSA form and the federal methodology.
Joseph McCullough '48 Scholarship for Excellence in Painting
Awarded for excellence to current 3rd year students majoring in Painting. Total Amount of Award in 2009: $3,650, shared by 1 or 2 winner(s). Award is based on Merit. Merit is criteria in all awards. Need-based awards are based on FAFSA form and the federal methodology.
Liza Noble '48 Scholarship for Excellence in Painting
Awarded for outstanding talent to a current 2nd or 3rd year student majoring in Painting, who is in the top 1/3 of the painting classes. Donor hopes recipients will contribute scholarship amount back to CIA in the future. Total Amount of Award in 2009: $2,290, shared by 1 winner(s). Award is based on Need. Merit is criteria in all awards. Need-based awards are based on FAFSA form and the federal methodology.
Martha M. Spindler '52 Scholarship for Excellence in Painting
Awarded for excellence to a 2nd or 3rd year student who is majoring in Painting. Total Amount of Award in 2009: $655, shared by 1 winner(s). Award is based on Merit. Merit is criteria in all awards. Need-based awards are based on FAFSA form and the federal methodology.
Mary Seymour Brooks Scholarship for Painting
Awarded for excellence to a current 3rd year painting major. Total Amount of Award in 2009: $300, shared by 1 winner(s). Award is based on Need. Merit is criteria in all awards. Need-based awards are based on FAFSA form and the federal methodology.
Norita Wyse Berman Memorial Award for Excellence in Painting
Awarded for an outstanding oil or acrylic painting submitted by a current 2nd or 3rd year student majoring in Painting. Total Amount of Award in 2009: $600, shared by 1 winner(s)
Award is based on Merit. Merit is criteria in all awards. Need-based awards are based on FAFSA form and the federal methodology.
Pauline Graver Biskind '22 Prize for Painting
Awarded for excellence in painting to a current 3rd year student majoring in Painting. Total Amount of Award in 2009: $200, shared by 1 winner(s). Award is based on Merit. Merit is criteria in all awards. Need-based awards are based on FAFSA form and the federal methodology.
Selma A. Walzer Painting Scholarship: In Honor of Professor Louis Bosa
Awarded to an outstanding current 2nd or 3rd year student majoring in Painting. Total Amount of Award in 2009: $800, shared by 1 winner(s). Award is based on Need. Merit is criteria in all awards. Need-based awards are based on FAFSA form and the federal methodology.
Sue Wall Scholarship in Painting
Awarded for exceptional talent to a current 2nd or 3rd year student majoring in Painting. Total Amount of Award in 2009: $260, shared by 1 winner(s). Award is based on Need. Merit is criteria in all awards. Need-based awards are based on FAFSA form and the federal methodology.
Suzy Spitz '77 Memorial Scholarship
Awarded for excellence to a non-traditional student majoring in Painting or Photography. Total Amount of Award in 2009: $220, shared by 1 winner(s) (Listed in both departments, but only one award.) Award is based on Need. Merit is criteria in all awards. Need-based awards are based on FAFSA form and the federal methodology.
The Frances Wise Lang and H. Jack Lang Scholarship for Painting
Awarded for exceptional talent to a current 2nd or 3rd year student majoring in Painting. Total Amount of Award in 2009: $2,390, shared by 1 winner(s). Award is based on Need. Merit is criteria in all awards. Need-based awards are based on FAFSA form and the federal methodology.